Why Did Judas Really Betray Jesus?
With Easter right around the corner, Christians are thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus. The events that took place during what is now called “Holy Week” certainly transformed the history of the world, but they also created a new villain: Judas. As one of Jesus’ closest followers and friends you have to wonder what he was thinking when he betrayed Jesus. What did Judas know that we don’t?
For much of history, we have been led to think that Judas betrayed Jesus for a payout. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas received thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. But in modern terms, that’s the equivalent of about six weeks of work for a day laborer: not a huge amount, and certainly not enough money to compensate you for betraying someone you had spent years following. If you were already annoyed and planning on leaving the movement, then perhaps this sweetener could help push you further along the path to betrayal. But the general impression that Judas betrayed Jesus for the money doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
The Gospel of John, which is almost certainly the last of the canonical gospels to be written, doubles down on the idea that Judas was motivated by financial reward. John adds that Judas was a thief who had stolen from the common resources of the group. Some of the gospels introduce the idea of demonic inspiration and possession. According to Luke 22:3, it was during the final week in Jerusalem that the devil placed the idea of betraying Jesus into Judas’s heart. This isn’t just a literary flourish or theological window-dressing; the demonization of Judas has a long history in influencing how people, medieval Christian in particular, have thought about Jews in general. Add this to ahistorical scenes in which the Jews called for the crucifixion of Jesus and say that the blood of Jesus rests on them and their children, and the Jewish people end up as the villains of the piece. The intertwining of antisemitism, the passion narrative, and violence is one of the reasons that it is important we get the historical pieces of the passion narrative correct.